Helping ETA?

Spain has accused the Venezuelan government of helping Colombian FARC guerrillas make contact with Basque ETA rebels to request assistance in an assassination attempt.

02 March, 2010

Spain has accused the Venezuelan government of helping Colombian FARC guerrillas make contact with Basque ETA rebels to request assistance in an assassination attempt. "A ruling by Spain's High Court said the Venezuelan government facilitated contacts between the armed groups which led to FARC asking ETA for logistical help in case it tried to assassinate Colombian officials visiting Spain, including President Alvaro Uribe. High Court Judge Eloy Velasco issued arrest warrants for 13 FARC and ETA suspects, including one Spanish-born employee of the Venezuelan government. Spain's Socialist government, which at one stage had relatively good relations with Venezuela's left-wing firebrand President Hugo Chavez, demanded an explanation from Caracas. ‘The Spanish government will act in accordance with that explanation,’ Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero told a news conference in Hanover, Germany, after meeting German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Venezuela reacted strongly to the case. ‘The Venezuelan government found out by way of the press of the Spanish ruling in which it makes unacceptable, politically motivated allusions about the Venezuelan government,’ a statement read. The statement said the ruling made several disrespectful references to Chavez and made unfounded and tendentious allusions about the Venezuelan government."